The Awards for Advancing Research in Respiratory Disease (AWARRD) provide more than $100,000 each year for research relating to infectious porcine respiratory diseases.

The Respiratory Disease Research Board, consisting of seven independent swine veterinarians and researchers, reviewed several exceptional proposals before making their final decision.

Daryl Olsen, DVM, a board member and senior partner at AMVC, said, “The swine industry is continually seeking ways to improve the health and performance of pigs, but there are still many unanswered questions, particularly when it comes to respiratory diseases. The AWARRD programme in general, and the three proposals the board chose to fund this year, will help answer some of those questions, and hopefully yield solutions that will be applicable to everyone in our field.”

Boehringer Ingelheim congratulates the following recipients of the 2019 Awards for Advancing Research in Respiratory Disease:

“The primary goal of these awards is to fund field-applicable research focused around key questions in our industry, and to do so in a collaborative fashion,” said Reid Philips, DVM, PRRS technical manager, Boehringer Ingelheim.

“We’re proud to be a part of this effort to help move the swine industry forward in its understanding of respiratory disease, and we’re excited to see how the outcome of these research proposals positively impacts the control and management of respiratory disease.”

The board also granted research completion awards to the following individuals for successfully completing past projects funded by the AWARRD programme:

Carles Vilalta, DVM, PhD, University of Minnesota, St. Paul.

“Evaluation of tail pail fluid as an indication of PRRSv status in the sow herd”.

Marie Culhane, DVM, PhD, University of Minnesota, St. Paul.

“Association of the presence of Influenza A virus in pigs at weaning with post-weaning performance and cost of production”.

Over the past 15 years, the AWARRD programme has provided more than $1.3 million in support of the development of less costly, innovative diagnostic testing and sampling processes; identified more effective biosecurity practices; sought to better understand respiratory diseases; and developed risk assessment tools, intervention programmes and vaccination strategies. The programme is supported through funding from Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health USA Inc.

Applications for the 2020 awards will be open for submission in late 2019. For more information on the Respiratory Disease Research Board and the AWARRD programme, visit swineresearchawards.com.

About the Respiratory Disease Research Board

The Respiratory Disease Research Board, an independent group of swine veterinarians and researchers, selects the Awards for Advancing Research in Respiratory Disease annually. Board members for the 2019 award selection process include: